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378
The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph
·
Henry M. Field
175
CHAPTER
XI.
EXCITEMENT
IN
AMERICA.
Whoever
shall
write
the
history
of
popular
enthusiasms,
must
give
a
large
space
to
the
Atlantic
Telegraph.
Never
did
the
tidings
of
any
great
achievement--whether
in
peace
or
war--more
truly
electrify
a
nation.
No
doubt,
the
impression
was
the
greater
because
it
took
the
country
by
surprise.
Had
the
attempt
succeeded
in
June,
it
would
have
found
a
people
prepared
for
it.
But
the
failure
of
the
first
expedition,
added
to
that
of
the
previous
year,
settled
the
fate
of
the
enterprise
in
the
minds
of
the
public.
It
was
a
hopeless
undertaking;
and
its
projectors
shared
the
usual
lot
of
those
who
conceive
vast
designs,
and
venture
on
great
enterprises,
which
are
not
successful,
to
be
regarded
with
a
mixture
of
derision
and
pity.
Such
was
the
temper
of
the
public
mind,
when
at
noon
of
Thursday,
the
fifth
of
August,
the
following
despatch
was
received:
"United
States
Frigate
Niagara,
Trinity
Bay,
Newfoundland,
August
5,
1858.
"To
the
Associated
Press,
New
York:
"The
Atlantic
Telegraph
fleet
sailed
from
Queenstown,
Ireland,
Saturday,
July
seventeenth,
and
met
in
mid-ocean
Wednesday,
July
twenty-eighth.
Made
the
splice
at
one
P.M.,
Thursday,
the
twenty-ninth,
and
separated--the
Agamemnon
and
Valorous,
bound
to
Valentia,
Ireland;
the
Niagara
and
Gorgon,
for
this
place,
where
they
arrived
yesterday,
and
this
morning
the
end
of
the
cable
will
be
landed.
"It
is
one
thousand
six
hundred
and
ninety-six
nautical,
or
one
thousand
nine
hundred
and
fifty
statute,
miles
from
the
Telegraph
House
at
the
head
of
Valentia
harbor
to
the
Telegraph
House
at
the
Bay
of
Bulls,
Trinity
Bay,
and
for
more
than
two
thirds
of
this
distance
the
water
is
over
two
miles
in
depth.
The
cable
has
been
paid
out
from
the
Agamemnon
at
about
the
same
speed
as
from
the
Niagara.
The
electric
signals
sent
and
received
through
the
whole
cable
are
perfect.
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